Page 9 (1/2)

Chapter 1

Jasmine

Even if I’d been sleeping, the creak of my bedroom door would have startled ht Notin our house Not even the ghost of my poor dead mother dares wander theses halls after hours

It simply isn’t done

And yet

My feet ache fro, my chest aches worse from the heart pain my father delivered earlier Another betrayal after a lifetih to keep sleep frohs heavier than most

He sold me

Oh, he didn’t call it as such He called it aof tealthy families with ties to the criminal underbelly everyone in this mausoleum of a house pretends doesn’t exist I touch my face, the most persistent of my pains, the only one anchored in the physical instead of eht, he’d struck me

My otten me into trouble

I slip into the deep shadows near h the doorway and into ht, but it doesn’t matter He shouldn’t be here Perhaps my father thinks to send e

He’ll get what he deserves

I barely dare to breathe and reach for the letter opener I’d left on my vanity It is sharp and pretty, and it will serveelse

The man moves on soundless feet toward my bed If I need further evidence of his intention, I have it He is no innocent, wandering into the wrong roo like that had ever happened before He is here for me

I will not go quietly